I Didn't Do It
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Lily wants to be seen by James, so she decides to help them execute a prank.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

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Word Count: 1789

Title: I Didn't Do It

Note: AU! Lily attempts to win James by joining in on a prank that tests the friendship of the entire group. Scenes are all NOT chronological

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Third Year Anniversary: The Three Main Time Periods: Write a story set in the Marauders Era.

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International Wizarding School Competition:

[School]:

[Prompts]:

Main: [Platonic pairing] Remus Lupin/Lily Evans

Additional:

[Emotion] Anxiety

[Action] Being chased

[Theme]: - Conspirators

Guy Fawkes was captured and interrogated for a number of days before he finally gave up his co-conspirators, who were all put on trial.

Your theme is: Conspirators

* * *

Hogwarts

Assignment 8: Foreign Exchange: Task #3. The College of Winterhold (Elder Scrolls: Skyrim): Write about being tested by someone or something.

Yearly:

Prompt 529 [Song] I Would Do Anything For Love - Meatloaf

* * *

"Miss Evans, I am so disappointed to see you here," Headmaster Dippit said. His eyes flicked over Remus. "And Remus Lupin." The two of them said nothing. They got caught because they were too slow, which was ironic was that they were only going along with what the rest had planned.

The masterminds of the operation had been James and Sirius, but the two remained silent as the headmaster continued his lecture. Lily's eyes looked across the headmaster's office, the portraits of the previous headmasters and headmistress looking down at her with disappointment. She had never been in trouble like this before.

They were only lucky nobody ended up getting hurt. "Okay, Miss Evans, wait outside while I speak to Mr Lupin first," he said in his high voice. Lily couldn't help but notice that it was even higher pitched than usual because of his anger. His thin frame seemed like it couldn't hold that much anger, and his face was red.

Lily didn't argue, she just stepped outside the office and waited until it was her turn to be interrogated about the events.

* * *

It all started because Lily thought that James was handsome. She knew he was immature and careless, but she seemed intent to try to get his attention. He was from a good Pureblood family, and although status wasn't everything. He seemed to be kind to his friends and relatively merciful to those he didn't like.

Once he was busy pranking her friend Severus, who had been there for her since childhood, and she spotted them, she pulled her shoulders back and went to step in. Before she said a word, she saw Remus meet her eyes.

"James, enough," Remus said, spotting her looking furious. Remus had become a confidant after that, stopping things before they got too far.

"Thank you," she mouthed in his direction, putting her wand back into her cloak. She still walked over to help Severus of the floor, feeling James's eyes on her all the time.

* * *

Remus and Lily were walking around the gardens, watching something splashing in the Black Lake not too far away from them. Lily had something on her mind, and she knew she could trust Remus. There was something about him that just told her he had his own secrets, and he wasn't the type to go spreading around other people's feelings.

"Remus," Lily started, stopping for a minute. Remus looked curiously at her.

"Yes, Lily?"

"I was wondering something," she started slowly.

"You know you can tell me," Remus replied.

"I know it's just, you have been a good friend and I don't want to put you in the middle of this," she continued.

"You are in love with James," Remus said suddenly. Her face turned red, and she brushed her long hair out of her face.

"How could you tell?" She asked, not bothering to deny it.

"It's written all over your face," he said with a short smile.

"I'm not sure what to do, I keep thinking he will notice me," Lily admitted.

"I know what we can do, join us in a prank, and I'm sure it will work," Remus said. He didn't tell Lily all she needed was to tell James how she felt. He wanted to make sure she was right for his best friend, after all.

"Are you sure he won't just see me as one of the guys?" Lily asked with reluctance.

"Of course not," Remus replied.

* * *

She was sitting in the library with her books when Remus sat down beside her. They didn't speak, they just sat in companionable silence while they worked on their respective assignments.

"Could you pass me that?" Lily asked pointing at the Potions book.

"Slughorn's assignment huh?" Remus grinned before pushing it towards her. It was a thick black tomb that held information on the Draught Of The Living Dead.

"Yeah, I'm actually a bit stuck," Lily admitted, nervously pushing her red hair behind her ear.

"I can help you," Remus offered. She supposed he was used to helping his friends complete their own assignments and she ended up staying as much.

"Yeah, James and Sirius tend to leave things too late," he admitted with a grin.

The two of them formed a study group after that but it wasn't until much later they actually became friends.

They both realised that their strengths were in different areas, and so they managed to help each other improve with the subjects that took them more time. This time spared ended up just making Lily wish she knew how she could approach James. She couldn't just make it too easy on him, he needed to know she was special.

* * *

"Miss Evans," she heard Headmaster Dippit's voice calling her inside. As Remus left, he said nothing, just touched her shoulder. Now was the time she was going to be tested. How much was she willing to do for James? She was brave, but would she protect him, or sell him out?

She walked inside, wishing for a little of that patented Gryffindor courage. She didn't feel very courageous at the moment.

"Sit," the headmaster said, pointing to the chair behind his desk. She was sure that Remus had been sitting there just before. She was wringing her hands in her lap. What was going to happen to her?

"Well, Miss Evans, as it happens that Mr Lupin refused to tell me what happened. He received detention. Now, if you tell me who helped you do this, I won't punish you."

She felt her heart lurch when she said: "Sir, it's just like we said before. We have no idea how the tower got flooded. We just happened to be in the area when the pipes burst."

"How did the putty get inside a closed pipe? Who are your conspirators?" Headmaster Dippit complained annoyed.

"I don't know anything professor, I simply noticed the water dripping, and tried to prevent the flood."

"Well then, you will join your classmate in detention, I am so disappointed in you Miss Evan's."

She knew she was one of his favourites, but she couldn't risk it. She knew this was the way it needed to be.

* * *

It was a cloudy Wednesday morning when Lily sat down next to James at the breakfast table. She overheard them muttering softly, and Remus winked at her. James paused, looking up to see her sitting there.

"Can we trust her?" James asked. He knew she was a bit of a stickler for the rules, even though he really did have a bit of a crush on the girl.

"Of course we can," Remus injected and the discussion continued. James explained in detail how they were going to block the one pipe with putty, causing the pressure to build up and cause and explosion of water in the Ravenclaw common room.

"She's going to be a handful, isn't she?" he whispered to Sirius.

"You'll never be bored," Sirius winked at him.

The rules had been simple, although the plan itself became more and more intricate as they went along. They spent hours in the Gryffindor common room, all five of them in various places. Lily was lying on the floor, peering at the drawings with Sirius. Peter was sitting in the corner, seemingly staring off into space. Where Remus and James sat on the couch.

They were going over the various positions that everyone would hold.

The rules were these:

Whoever got caught- every man (or woman) for themselves.

Deny, deny, deny.

Lily was on board mostly because of her feelings for James, but she knew if anything about someone getting hurt due to this, she would have backed out. There were many things she would do for the attention of James Potter, but that was a line she wouldn't cross.

It had been a while before they trusted her to know about their animagus forms. Peter was in charge of crawling into the pipe to place the putty, then escape.

Lily and Remus, the two most innocent looking, were in charge of keeping watch, if anything went wrong. They were the least likely to be suspected of anything. Except, something went wrong. Remus hadn't received a signal that Peter was safely out of the pipes. Lily started to panic, and when they got found trying to stop the water at the main, the caretaker spotted them, and Remus cried: "Run!" The two of them ran, being chased by the caretaker until they rounded the corner and crashed right into professor Binns, knocking him over in their haste.

"Got 'ca now," the caretaker said with a wicked toothless grin, and took each one of them by the arm and walked them to Headmaster Dippit's office.

* * *

Lily found out later that everyone else had gotten out unscathed, Peter was a rat, in more ways than one, and he had gotten out just fine. He was just in such a hurry that he had not given them the signal before he scampered off.

She was sitting in detention, writing out lines in silence. She had Remus next to her. As Professor Binns turned to the chalkboard Remus patted her arm softly, and she felt comforted by his presence next to her. Although they couldn't talk, she knew he was proud of her for not giving up their friends.

After detention the two of them walked to the Gryffindor dormitory, knowing that the rest wouldn't have gotten off nearly as easily. There was a reason they were on the lookout, and they did their jobs perfectly.

"_Pig Snout_," Lily muttered to the Fat Lady, and clambering through the portrait she saw the rest of them team waiting up for them.

"Lily! Thank goodness!" James said, embracing her. Lily had a fleeting thought of how he wasn't that thankful to see Remus, and her heart fluttered. Maybe he liked her after all?

"We are proud of you," Sirius said with a grin.

There was a moment where it felt like James wasn't going to let Lily go, and as time stood still she just relished the feeling. It was worth it.

He let her go slowly, tussling his messy black hair nervously. She had picked up his tell, she was nervous as well. The rest of the Marauders team scattered, leaving the two of them alone in the common room.

Lily smiled at him, she was sure she had her heart on her sleeve. He reached up a hand that messed up his own hair, reaching out to brush her hair behind her ear. He leaned in slowly, and she knew what was coming. She leaned in towards him as well, throwing her hands around his neck, and then he kissed her.


End file.
